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TomTom and Elgin to provide new insights into the impact of roadworks in the UK

TomTom and Elgin have announced a new partnership that aims to provide road users with new levels of information about roadworks, and their impact on traffic flow across England and Wales.

Netherlands-based navigation and traffic information provider TomTom is collaborating with Elgin to deliver more accurate and validated real-time traffic information to drivers, fleet managers, and traffic management professionals. TomTom’s Traffic service in the UK will now include relevant roadworks and traffic management information from Elgin. This collaboration ultimately enables drivers to reach their destinations more quickly, and also allows highway authorities and utility companies to monitor and respond to the impact of roadworks on road users in real-time. The two companies will be exhibiting and discussing their new partnership at the Highways UK Conference and Exhibition at the NEC Birmingham, on November 16-17.

Originally developed by engineering consultancy group Jacobs as ELGIN (Electronic Local Government Information Network), the system was sold to Roadworks Information Limited in 2011, with it continuing and expanding under the Elgin trading name. The company created the ‘roadworks.org’ website, which provides a comprehensive roadworks and traffic management communications hub that also serves as the national roadworks database for England and Wales. The roadworks.org map is embedded within hundreds of local and national authorities and the underlying data is widely disseminated through a variety of services.

The combined TomTom-Elgin data, including the real-time impact of roadworks and traffic management measures, can be accessed by permissioned users within the Elgin roadworks website’s professional operations environment, or licensed as a raw data feed through TomTom or Elgin for integration within Traffic Control Centers (TMCs), Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) systems, and Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). Drivers using TomTom’s live traffic information in the UK through a connected navigation system or smartphone application can also benefit directly from this new collaboration. TomTom’s Traffic service will be improved with the integration of UK roadworks data from Elgin. The collaboration has the potential to revolutionize traffic management in the UK by enabling highway industry professionals to accurately assess the real-time impacts of their current works, and to plan both roadworks and traffic management interventions more effectively.

“We receive a detailed picture of current vehicle speeds and locations, reported by our navigation systems and mobile applications, and this data is anonymized and fused with roadworks data from Elgin,” explained Anders Truelsen, managing director of TomTom’s licensing business unit.

“By harnessing machine learning to improve the data’s quality, our Traffic Fusion Engine creates a positive feedback loop and can discern whether, for example, scheduled roadworks reported to Elgin are causing traffic disruptions, and whether these are occurring where they were planned to.”

Elgin’s managing director, James Harris, added, “We’re extremely enthusiastic about the ways that TomTom and our combined real-time data feeds can be harnessed by transport authorities and contractors alike to proactively monitor and minimize traffic disruptions resulting from planned roadworks. We have worked closely with TomTom to ensure that this valuable data is made accessible through our respective data services.”